Situation Room Research Articles

Measures to Improve the Behavior of Witnesses at the Scene of Cardiac Arrest by Guidance of Situation Room Workers

Measures to Improve the Behavior of Witnesses at the Scene of Cardiac Arrest by Guidance of Situation Room Workers

Implementation of a data use strategy in situation rooms in two metropolitan areas of Honduras in the context of COVID-19

Implementation of a data use strategy in situation rooms in two metropolitan areas of Honduras in the context of COVID-19

A Comparison of Training and Dispatch Criteria for Security Personnel in 119 Domestic and Overseas General Situation Rooms

This study proposes an efficient way to strengthen work capabilities based on a comparison of the education and training of guard personnel before and after their deployment in the 119 Emergency Operations Center, which is in charge of elementary responses to various disasters and accidents, with that given to advanced foreign situation personnel. Only one area of Gyeonggi-do Province was identified in an internal document on personnel standards for moving into the situation room in Korea, and it was found that most of the situation room agents were used for situation room work through the informal OJT training of senior members of each city and provincial headquarters before deployment. Japan, like Korea, is organized into several prefectures and operates the same Emergency Operations Center or Joint Command Center. However, the most distinctive feature of the Japanese system with respect to Korea is that situation room agents are employed in the day-to-day operations of the command center after education with systematic and clear contents before being put into the work of the Emergency Operations Center. Similarly, the United States comprises 50 states, each with its own laws and emergency management systems. However, the federal government actively controls disaster safety and establishes and operates regulations by state, and each state has education and training, certification standards, and supplementary education regulations for existing agents. In Germany, there is a specific system of vocational education and training to become a worker in the Emergency Operations Center, and the curricula in vocational schools for security personnel, as well as the admission requirements and professional qualifications, are specified by the government.

Improvement of Personnel, Education and Working Environments via Surveying the Status of Personnel in 119 Emergency Operation Centers

Excluding the Sejong Fire Department Headquarters, visitations to 119 emergency operations centers in 17 cities and provinces across the country were conducted as of 2022 to assess the improvements in personnel arrangements, scope of work, and status of education and training after the placement of situation rooms. On-site visitations were conducted to 119 emergency operation centers in Seoul and 119 emergency operation centers in Busan. Interviews with security personnel participating in the study, such as emergency operation center managers and team leaders, were conducted at the 119 functional emergency operation centers. The status of the deployment, personnel matters, education and training in the operations center, and working conditions were assessed. The following improvements were suggested: The 119 emergency operation centers must be designated as heavy duty departments, provide personnel with the same or higher points as other departments, and provide training and comprehensive evaluation using common practice and simulations on the 119 Emergency Management Standard Response Manual of the National Fire Agency. In addition, working conditions, such as additional personnel points related to promotions, resolution of malicious complaints, difficulty adapting to sleep patterns, the need for psychological treatment, and lack of manpower, must be improved. The results suggest the benefits of operating 112 police emergency operation centers must be introduced.

112 범죄 신고 데이터 분석을 통한 캠퍼스 내에서의 범죄취약요소 연구

This study is to examine the vulnerable environmental factors in university Crime Hot-Spot Area through campus field surveys and the correlation between safety system and statistical analysis. Seven campuses were used for current research wity using the data of 112 crime data with 1,793 crimes. We then analyzed Crime Hot-Spot Area through the Geographic Information System(GIS). For each university, vulnerable elements were derived in terms of the geographical characteristics of Crime Hot-Spot Area, the use of academic buildings, and the environmental design for crime prevention(CPTED). Crime Hot-Spot Area includes border areas(Edge effect) such as campus entrances, libraries, living halls, and student halls, as well as hospitals and parking lots on campus, nearby bus stops, and subway routes. Multiple regression analysis was conducted on seven independent variables related to vulnerable factors using the number of crime hot-spots as a dependent variable. The independent variables are the measured distance between the 112 report location and the CCTV, lighting, emergency bell, campus entrance, and general situation room. In addition, the correlation between the integration value of crime occurrence locations and the connection value through Space-Syntax analysis was also analyzed. The higher the number of Crime Hot-Spot Areas, the higher the integration value and the lower the connection value. Crimes have been concentrated on streets with high centrality and low connectivity on campus and streets with the characteristics of traveling in one direction. CCTV is a physical surveillance system known to be effective in crime prevention, but in this study, on the contrary, CCTV was installed closer as the number of occurrences in Crime Hot-Spot Areas increased. Lighting(CPTED surveillance index) was also related to crime occurrence in the analysis results of only one out of seven universities. Therefore, it was difficult to see lighting as an indicator related to campus crime prevention. It is important to analyze 112 police report data on important crimes such as theft, sexual violence, and violence that actually occurred on campus to derive accurate hotspot areas suitable for environmental characteristics. In the future, the results of this study that fit the characteristics of the university campus can be used.

지방정부의 재난안전 역량 강화

This paper aims to propose strategies to enhance the disaster management capabilities of local governments. It is necessary for local government leaders to increase their interest in disaster safety, boost the self-efficacy of officials, and find ways to enhance their pride. It is vital to establish collaborative governance that mobilizes the disaster safety capacities within the region. Reflecting on the work experience of the disaster safety department when appointing senior officials and expanding recruitment is essential steps. Additionally, promoting the stable and efficient operations of disaster safety organizations can be achieved by conducting regular personnel appointments every January. Furthermore, it is necessary to establish disaster safety specialized institutions in the form of foundation corporations in 17 metropolitan local governments and set up crisisonomy graduate school to nurture specialized professionals. Practical on-site manuals and conducting on-site training are also essential. Lastly, managing the early stages of disaster occurrences and operating a disaster situation room equipped with on-site response capabilities are crucial.

A Weighted k-Nearest-Neighbors-Based Spatial Framework of Flood Inundation Risk for Coastal Tourism—A Case Study in Zhejiang, China

Flood inundation causes socioeconomic losses for coastal tourism under climate extremes, progressively attracting global attention. Predicting, mapping, and evaluating the flood inundation risk (FIR) is important for coastal tourism. This study developed a spatial tourism-aimed framework by integrating a Weighted k Nearest Neighbors (WkNN) algorithm, geographic information systems, and environmental indexes, such as precipitation and soil. These model inputs were standardized and weighted using inverse distance calculation and integrated into WkNN to infer the regional probability and distribution of the FIR. Zhejiang province, China, was selected as a case study. The evaluation results were mapped to denote the likelihood of an FIR, which was then validated by the historical Maximum Inundation Extent (MIE) extracted from the World Environment Situation Room. The results indicated that 80.59% of the WkNN results reasonably confirmed the MIE. Among the matched areas, 80.14%, 90.13%, 65.50%, and 84.14% of the predicted categories using WkNN perfectly coincided with MIE at high, medium, low, and very low risks, respectively. For the entire study area, approximately 2.85%, 64.83%, 10.8%, and 21.51% are covered by a high, medium, low, and very low risk of flood inundation. Precipitation and elevation negatively contribute to a high-medium risk. Drainage systems positively alleviate the regional stress of the FIR. The results of the evaluation illustrate that in most inland areas, some tourism facilities are located in high-medium areas of the FIR. However, most tourism facilities in coastal cities are at low or very low risk, especially from Hangzhou-centered northern coastal areas to southern Wenzhou areas. The results can help policymakers make appropriate strategies to protect coastal tourism from flood inundation. Moreover, the evaluation accuracy of WkNN is higher than that of kNN in FIR. The WkNN-based framework provides a reasonable method to yield reliable results for assessing FIR. The framework can also be extended to other risk-related research under climate change.

Temperature changes of renal calyx during high-power flexible ureteroscopic Moses holmium laser lithotripsy: a case analysis study.

The risk of thermal damage increases with the introduction of high-power lasers during holmium laser lithotripsy. This study aimed to quantitatively evaluate the temperature change of renal calyx in the human body and the 3D printed model during high-power flexible ureteroscopic holmium laser lithotripsy and map out the temperature curve. The temperature was continuously measured by a medical temperature sensor secured to a flexible ureteroscope. Between December 2021 and December 2022, willing patients with kidney stones undergoing flexible ureteroscopic holmium laser lithotripsy were enrolled. High frequency and high-power settings (24 W, 80Hz/0.3J and 32 W, 80Hz/0.4J) were performed for each patient with room temperature (25°C) irrigation. In the 3D printed model, we studied more holmium laser settings (24 W, 80Hz/0.3J, 32 W, 80Hz/0.4J and 40 W, 80Hz/0.4J) with warmed (37°C) and room temperature (25°C) irrigation. Twenty-two patients were enrolled in our study. With 30ml/min or 60ml/min irrigation, the local temperature of the renal calyx did not reach 43°C in any patient under 25°C irrigation after 60s laser activation. There were similar temperature changes in the 3D printed model with the human body under the irrigation of 25°C. Under the irrigation of 37°C, the temperature rise slowed down, but the temperature in the renal calyces was close to or even exceeded the 43°C at the setting of 32 W, 30ml/min and 40 W, 30ml/min after continuing laser activation. In the irrigation of 60ml/min, the temperature in the renal calyces can still be maintained within a safe range after continuous activation of a holmium laser up to 40 W. However, continuous activation of 32W or higher power holmium laser in the renal calyces for more than 60s in the limited irrigation of 30ml/min can cause excessive local temperature, in such situation room temperature perfusion at 25 ℃ may be a relatively safer option.

Operation of national coordinating service for interhospital transfer from emergency departments: experience and implications from Korea

BackgroundSince 2014, Korea has been operating the National Emergency Medical Situation Room (NEMSR) to provide regional emergency departments (EDs) with coordination services for the interhospital transfer of critically ill patients. The present study aimed to describe the NEMSR’s experience and interhospital transfer pattern from EDs nationwide, and investigate the factors related to delayed transfers or transfers that could not be arranged by the NEMSR.MethodsThis study was a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of the NEMSR’s coordination registry from 2017 to 2019. The demographic and hospital characteristics related to emergency transfers were analyzed with hierarchical logistic models.ResultsThe NEMSR received a total of 14,003 requests for the arrangement of the interhospital transfers of critically ill patients from 2017 to 2019. Of 10,222 requests included in the analysis, 8297 (81.17%) successful transfers were coordinated by the NEMSR. Transfers were requested mainly due to a shortage of medical staff (59.79%) and ICU beds (30.80%). Delayed transfers were significantly associated with insufficient hospital resources. The larger the bed capacity of the sending hospital, the more difficult it was to coordinate the transfer (odds ratio [OR] for transfer not arranged = 2.04; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.48–2.82, ≥ 1000 beds vs. < 300 beds) and the longer the transfer was delayed (OR for delays of more than 44 minutes = 2.08; 95% CI: 1.57–2.76, ≥ 1000 beds vs. < 300 beds).ConclusionsThe operation of the NEMSR has clinical importance in that it could efficiently coordinate interhospital transfers through a protocolized process and resource information system. The coordination role is significant as information technology in emergency care develops while regional gaps in the distribution of medical resources widen.

University setting and infrastructure for the people’s well-being: Universidad de Guadalajara in the face of the pandemic

From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico, the University of Guadalajara (UdeG) placed its infrastructure, —particularly schools, laboratories, research centers and institutes, and departments related to the areas of health and human resources— at the service of civil authorities and the population in general. Before any other public university in Mexico, UdeG implemented and published measures to prevent COVID-19 infections, which began with the suspension of public meetings and face-to-face activities, and the installation of a Health Situation Room, and which continued with the Enabling of the Active COVID-19 Detection System, the reconversion of the Civil Hospitals of Guadalajara, until reaching the Design of the Vaccination Plan, to name a few. The objective of this article is to describe how actions related to the management of the university environment and infrastructure not only put the largest state public university in the country at people’s service as never before, but also about how we have been forced to reconceptualize the mission and vision of higher education based on the needs identified during the pandemic, from a humanistic, integrative, unitary, global and interdisciplinary perspective.Keyword: COVID-19, universities, setting and infrastructure, health sciences, innovation

해양 수색구조 정보전달체계 개선 방안

From after the sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014, ship accidents such as the sinking of small fishing boats have continued, leading to casualties. If the information delivery system is strengthened during the maritime search and rescue process after a ship accident, the loss of life will be reduced. The first way to strengthen maritime search and rescue information delivery systems is to use drones. When using drones, the search video can be shared in real time, and command-and-rescue operations can be effective. The second is the placement of VHF radio facilities. When the VHF radio station is installed in the general situation room in the Regional Headquarters of Korea Coast Guard, direct communication with the ship will be possible if necessary. Finally, it is suggested that the control of coastal passenger ships be expanded during the entire voyage from departure to arrival. Currently, however, passenger ships are controlled only within the vessel traffic service control area. If this information delivery system is improved, large-scale human casualties can be prevented.

Photographic Presidents: Making History from Daguerreotype to Digital

Photographic Presidents: Making History from Daguerreotype to Digital

Books and Other Reviews

Key Points Dead zones: The loss of oxygen from rivers, lakes, seas, and the ocean — Glenn Suter Desperate: An epic battle for clean water and justice in Appalachia — Glenn Suter Life is simple: How Occam's razor set science free and shapes the universe — Glenn Suter Offshore Situation Room: Enhancing resilience to offshore oil disasters in the Gulf of Mexico — Robert L. Stevenson Impacts of Fukushima nuclear accident on freshwater environments — Louise Stevenson Plastics in the aquatic environment—Part I: Current status and challenges — Temitope O. Sogbanmu Plastics in the aquatic environment—Part II: Stakeholders' role against pollution — Temitope O. Sogbanmu Cumulative impacts: Recommendations for ORD Research: External review draft — Richard Wenning

Talk Radio’s America: How an Industry Took Over a Political Party That Took Over the United States—Brian Rosenwald (Cambridge, MA, USA: Harvard Univ. Press, 2019, 358 pp.)

<bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">In March 2020,</b> as the coronavirus was rapidly spreading throughout the United States, President Trump strode into the Situation Room for a meeting with his COVID-19 task force. According to sources in attendance, the President excitedly announced that he wanted to start a 2-hour, daily White House talk radio show to provide a regular opportunity for him to update Americans, quell fears, and answer listener questions. Ultimately, the President quashed the idea, giving as his reason that it would compete with Rush Limbaugh, whose legendary talk radio program was the gold standard among conservative supporters. When aids suggested the White House program might air at a time that did not conflict with Limbaugh’s broadcast, the President demurred, choosing not to ruffle the feathers of right-wing radio’s Big Bird. The talk radio maestro was held in such high regard that, just a month or so earlier, the President used the solemn occasion of his State of the Union address to announce that he was giving Mr. Limbaugh the nation’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This decision would not surprise Brian Rosenwald whose book documents Limbaugh’s formative role in turning an old technology into an instrument of power that transformed the Republican Party and political discourse in the United States.

Mobilizing Gender for Conflict Prevention: Women’s Situation Rooms

ABSTRACT In West Africa, women’s organizations have created the Women’s Situation Room (WSR) – a mechanism aimed at preventing and responding to episodes of violence and instability. Drawing on experiences from Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria, the article explores how strategies developed and deployed by WSRs use gender as a productive force to counteract violence. We identify three ways in which WSRs take advantage of gendered constructions: feminist organizing creates the political networks that make the WSRs possible; women’s location outside formal politics gives them legitimacy; and maternal constructions of femininity give them the power to disrupt and coopt potentially violent actors.

A Local Health Situation Room for COVID-19: Recommendations for Decision-Making From a Higher Education Institution in Mexico

Introduction: The Situation Room is a physical or virtual space where experts systematically analyze information to characterize a health situation, especially during emergencies. Decision-making processes are made toward solving health needs and promoting collaboration among institutions and social sectors. This paper presents the context and circumstances that led the University of Guadalajara (UdeG) to install a local health situation room (HSR) to address the COVID-19 pandemic at this institution based in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, a narrative is also made of its working processes and some of its results.Methods: The design of this situation room for COVID-19 was based on the methodology established by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/WHO. This local-type situation room was installed on February 12, 2020. The health problem was characterized, and strategic lines, objectives, and goals were established; the first analysis was derived from an action plan deployed at the UdeG. The strategic lines were situational diagnosis, preventive actions, and containment strategies.Results: The situation room influenced the activities of the UdeG before the epidemic cases started in the state. One of the actions with the greatest impact was developing a mathematical model for predicting COVID-19 cases. Subsequently, new models have been developed according to the epidemiological evolution of the disease, helping manage the epidemic in the state. Another important result was the early closing of face-to-face university activities, reducing contagion risks and the mobility of more than 310,000 students, faculty, and administrative personnel throughout Jalisco.Conclusions: A consequence of the closure was that the confinement generated by the pandemic was the change to virtual meetings from April 2020 to date; but at the same time, this working format was a strength, since it influenced the decision of the university board to change all the academic activities to virtual format before other educational, economic, and social activities in the state did. By April 2020, the situation room transcended its institutional boundaries and was invited to participate at the Jalisco State's Health Committee. Its recommendations have helped to maintain the state with one of Mexico's lowest COVID-19 incidence and mortality rates.

Development of Smart Evacuation System for Fire Response in Apartments

A smart evacuation system is developed herein to reduce damage to lives and property by inducing rapid evacuation of the residents in the event of apartment fires. The smart evacuation system provides a safe evacuation environment and the best physical evacuation conditions by detecting the loads to be applied to evacuation facilities at all times. In addition, fire information is automatically disseminated to the residents and managers during a fire for initial evacuation, and the function for early fire extinguishing is enabled via report to the 119 situation room. The smart evacuation system comprises a safety ladder for evacuation, an ideal detection system to detect obstructions in the evacuation facilities, and a communication system to quickly inform authorities, residents, and managers of a fire. To verify effective performance of the safety ladder, real safety ladders were constructed and their structural performance and usability were verified. In addition, to ensure their permanent space in evacuation facilities, we verified that obstructions to evacuation were accurately detected as anomalies in real time using contactless sensors and communication modules. Finally, the fire information was sent to residents and managers in case of a fire to assist evacuation as well as reported to 119 for rapid suppression. Thus, we demonstrate that the smart evacuation system allows safe and effective evacuation with fast and accurate information in the event of a fire and is useful for initial response for fire suppression.

Eliminating malaria from the margins of transmission in Southern Africa through the Elimination 8 Initiative

Four southern Africa countries, namely, Botswana, Eswatini, Namibia and South Africa, were identified by the World Health Organization as having the potential to eliminate malaria in the near future. However, the extreme interconnectedness of southern African countries facilitates the constant movement of malaria parasites across country-borders, predominately from higher-burden “source” countries to lower-burden “sink” countries, reinforcing the notion that malaria elimination in any southern African country would not be possible without regional cooperation and collaboration. The Elimination 8 initiative (E8) was therefore, created by Health Ministers from eight countries (Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe) to coordinate the implementation of a regional malaria elimination strategy. The E8 supported the implementation of five cross-border malaria control initiatives and the deployment of malaria health units at strategic points along shared borders. These units have contributed to a 30% and 46% reduction in malaria incidence and mortality, respectively, in the E8 border regions. The Situation Room, a novel data sharing platform developed and supported by the E8, has allowed for the early detection of and prompt response to malaria outbreaks. This platform played a vital role in identifying resources gaps due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite advancing the elimination agenda, the E8 region faces challenges which include, significant increases in malaria in certain member states, limited domestic funding and health system bottlenecks. These must be urgently addressed if the gains made through the E8 are to be sustained and malaria elimination is to be achieved across southern Africa.

Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room (NCSSR) and Electioneering Process in Nigeria (2015–2019)

Civil society organizations have played a pivotal role in democratization process in Nigeria since the advent of the Fourth Republic. They have greatly helped in the success of the 2015 and 2019 General Elections through pre-election, during election, and in post-election monitoring and advocacy. This article, therefore, examined the role of the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room (NCSSR) in improving the election in Nigeria during the 2015 and 2019 General Elections. While many civil societies flourished recently in Nigeria, their role toward democratization and facilitating credible election remain insignificant until in the 2015 and 2019 General Elections where their activities helped immensely the process of a credible election. A Civil Society as the Third Tier of Government framework was adopted as a theoretical explanation of the context of the work. The research used a qualitative case study method of data collection where informants consisting of members of NCSSR, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and academicians were selected for the interview and Focus Group Discussion. The total number selected was 16 from the three identified categories. The research discovered that the NCSSR aided the process and fairness of the 2015 and 2019 General Elections through proper monitoring, civic voter education, active collaboration with electoral body (INEC), and collaboration with international donor agencies through what they called “Civil Society Situation Room” which consist of more than 60 registered civil societies. The research recommends that civil societies should be empowered with constitutional backing and independent funding to enable them carry out their responsibilities adequately. Also, the article recommends that the electoral body (INEC) should liaise more and cooperate with civil societies to enable them conduct good and credible elections in future.

Gasping for war drama: the “about to die moment” of the Osama bin Laden assassination

ABSTRACT This essay reads iterations of Pete Souza’s “Situation Room” photograph across media contexts as an effect of an overdetermined public desire for U.S. redemption in the War on Terror. I argue that repetitions of the photograph's “about to die moment” invite a visceral identification between citizen-subjects and militarized state action through the subjunctive tense. The image’s tension reflected through the public interpretation that Hillary Clinton gasps in the photograph, speaks to a collective excitability about war victory’s imminence. If legitimacy for war builds through emotional ties staged by visual tenses and tensions, a crucial task for media criticism is opening possibilities to decathect from cycles of war drama.